Skin
by Jackrabbit2011
Summary: The one person she could trust her life with was slowly slipping away...
1. New York

A/N: **My first MR fic, so enjoy…**

Disclaimer: **I don't claim. **

**Skin: **_N. The thing we live in; we can hide behind it but it's the one thing we can't escape from. _

**Prologue**

You, as an outsider, can probably look back on the events and say, 'well, no wonder, it really was quite obvious." I bet you could pinpoint exactly where it started, but when you're inside the beast, it's hard to see passed its belly. When you're living it, day by day, it's harder than you think to see the clues he left. But, I suppose, that was probably because none of us wanted to see them, so made ourselves blind even when one of the people we were closest to was crying out for help. You can hear about things like this happening to other people, thousands of miles away, but you never really expect it to happen to you. Never expect it to happen inside your family. 

**Chapter One: Fang- August **

I couldn't believe it. 

The picture was purely hideous; I nearly threw up just looking at it. Or, more specifically, what was _in_ the picture. 

Me. 

God, the one picture of me that any of us-as in the flock- had and it was so grotesque that I yearned to rip it up and burn the pieces to ashes; then scatter the ashes in the sea for good measure, just to be sure that nobody would ever be able to put it back together and look at the repulsive picture. 

I couldn't stop looking at it, even though it was sickening. I stared at it, hating my weakness as I drank in desperately every revolting detail. 

It was me, from the side, so you could see that I was very far from slim. Ugh. 

And I was _smiling. _I'm not entirely sure why I'm smiling, but I do remember that Max and Angel took that picture together; and I'd do anything for Angel when she shows me Bambi Eyes, and Max, well… I'd give her my life if she asked me to, and I wouldn't regret it either. 

I looked down at the picture once more and anger hissed in my ear, urging me to tear the paper into thousands of tiny pieces and never look at it again. I wanted to so badly, but I couldn't. I needed that picture to make sure that I could take it out of my pocket, and remember why I was going to do this, so I stuffed it deep into a pocket and closed my mind from it. 

But the ghastly image was burned onto my retinas, and it hovered in front of my eyes, ghostlike and imperishable. I shuddered involuntarily, and with the convulsion came determination. 

Something was going to change. Soon. 

I didn't have to be so ugly forever; I could change. And I would, whatever it cost me. 

**Chapter Two: Fang – October **

"Fang are you sure you're alright?" Max's voice was shrill with worry; and I almost smiled.

Almost. 

"Fine." I murmured as I straightened, wiping my lips with the back of my hand, wordlessly accepting the water bottle Max held out for me; half emptying it as I tried to rid my mouth of the lingering, acrid taste of stomach acid. The sight- and smell- of hotdogs, cookies and general sustenance swirled together splattered on the tree trunk was enough the make me dry retch. I leaned against the tree wearily, concentrating furiously on inhaling and exhaling, stubbornly pushing the oppressing odour away as it threatened to overpower me again. 

Stealing myself, I turned-ignoring the wave of nausea as I did so- and faced the others. Their expressions ranged widely from concern to trepidation, and none of them would look at me in the eye. I was the mighty, invincible dark horse Fang; I didn't need to be looked after. 

But then again, mighty dark horses didn't usually throw up- three days in a row. 

I sauntered over to them, my tread not faltering as I silently chucked the water bottle at Max- she caught it easily, her avian-enhanced reflexes kicking in automatically. Without pausing, I increased my speed and launched myself off of the cliff edge that ringed the clearing we were grouped in, the wind whistling through the black, onyx-tinged feathers of my outstretched wings and lifting me skywards. 

_See? _I thought silently as my wings made me surge upwards where the others were waiting. _There's nothing wrong with you Fang; no sense in worrying Max. Don't let her know .Ever. _

**Max**

"Max?" I turned slightly in mid air to see Angel looking at me, unease written all over her face. "I'm worried about Fang." 

I slowed and gave her my full, undivided attention. Granted that wasn't saying much, when the blood-crazed Erasers hunting us down and boring us to death with their feeble fighting tactics and wack-job scientists trying to inject coloured dye into our bloodstreams to monitor our heart rate and circulatory systems. Not to mention the highly annoying, highly _unwanted_ Voice in my head. And speaking of which, I hadn't been unfortunate enough to hear from for around- 

**-Hello Max. **

_Wow voice! A whole minute without you butting in and ruining my already screwed__up life!_

**-Sarcasm doesn't become you Maximum. **

_Yeah well, neither did around- the-loop white-coats stabbing me with needles, but hey, they went right along and did it anyway! _

Silence greeted my retort. 

"Why sweetheart?" I fought the rising panic as Angel spoke. 

"I can't read his mind anymore," She whispered quietly. "It's like he's blocked me- I can feel his mind, but I can't access it." 

"Well," I said, choosing my words carefully. "Maybe it's nothing, and you were just tired when you tried to read his mind."

"Yeah…" Angel's dubious look told me that she clearly didn't believe a word of the bogus stuff coming out of my mouth. Damn. "Can we go to New York again?" 

I stared, blinking slowly at her for several seconds, flustered by the abrupt change of subject. "Uh, yeah okay. I guess." 

"Great!" Angel grinned and twirled away, looking like a six-year-old angel. As pre usual. "Hey, guys! We're going to New York again!" 

The flock stared at her, then at me. "What?" I asked, crossing my arms and scowling. "It was totally the plan all along." 

"Yeah," Iggy muttered to Gazzy. "Just like her terrible cooking skills are intentional." 

I flicked him with my finger and stalked off, putting Pissed Off Max mode to good use. 

**August **

Jesus, I have no idea what the hell is going on with Fang. We've been flying almost indefinitely for the past two days, and whenever we stop to sleep or eat, he insists on taking the first watch and eats as little as possible. He says he's just caught some sort of stomach bug, but we're enhanced super-humans- common colds have nothing on us. But I keep thinking, back when we were all captured; what if they injected him with some sort of new, untested disease to se if he was affected by it? Could Fang be dying? How could I help him when he won't tell what's wrong?Does he not trust me?

**-This isn't about you anymore, Max. Only you can help Fang. **

_How am I meant to help if he won't tell me anything?_

**-you need to get closer to him Max. Trust him with your secrets and he'll do the same. **

_I trust Fang with my life, Voice. I can depend on him for anything. _

**- But can Fang depend on you Max?**

I didn't know the answer to that. 

"Voice?" 

A voice like dark chocolate sounded behind me, flooding my entire body with calm- it was a voice I'd heard every day since I was six years old, when I'd first met him. I turned and slowed so our bodies were level. 

"Yeah." I sighed and glanced at him. "Look, Fang, what's going on?" 

He returned my gaze in that annoying, I'll-only-tell-you-what-I-want-you-to-know stare that was guaranteed to tick me off every time. "I don't know what you mean."

"Just answer the bloody question and stop being an ass." 

Fang didn't reply, the only sound the adolescent banter of our flock surrounding us. I held his gaze, but soon had to drop it to stare at the blurred fields below us. 

"Careful with your language, Angel might pick something up." With an extra beat of his powerful onyxy wings, he sped up and settled several metres ahead, leaving me as confused and as stressed as I was ten minutes before. 

**Angel- October **

Okay, so maybe I _had _influenced Max just a teensy bit into flying to New York, but hey, she didn't exactly have a plan thought out properly in her head, so I just kinda helped out a bit. Max's thoughts are all over the place nowadays. 

All her thoughts, feelings and memories are jumbled up, like badly blended soup; she's worried about finding us a place to stay, the Erasers and the creepy Voice in her head telling her what to do all the time. And she's also worried about Fang. 

She's worries about him a lot. 

Every thoughts she has is accompanied by an image or phrase that she has associated with Fang, and Fang's getting 'sicker'- or whatever's happening to him- every day. 

But he'll be okay, 'cos he's Fang, and he never gets hurt. 

Total really needs a hair-cut; his fur is always getting matted with mud and other stuff, and he been going on about 'getting it all lopped off' for weeks. I wonder if Max will let me take him to one of those cool doggie stylists who make scruffy mutts into like, glamorous poodles and stuff. And then I could try and convince him to get his eyebrows dyed blue like that super-cute dog we saw in New York…

**Max**

"Max, go to sleep." 

I glared into the darkness as Fang ordered me to sleep; it was his watch but I couldn't relax. 

Maybe it was because _he_ was on watch that made me too alert to sleep. I didn't say anything to him, just deepened my breathing in a pathetic attempt at pretending to be asleep. 

I doubt very highly that Fang bought it, but he didn't say anything. 

Eventually, I must have drifted to unconsciousness, because in the next instant I was somewhere else entirely. 

_Darkness. Swirls of colour that melded together to make a kaleidoscope of all the aspects of a rainbow. _

_Then, distantly, I heard anguished cries. _

_The darkness receded and it took a second to realise I was in a forest. A forest of red trees. _

_No, I realised with horror, the trees weren't red; they were splattered with blood. _

_There were thousands of blood-flecked trees._

_Whose blood was it?_

_The screams and sobs pulled me from my reverie abruptly, and without really acknowledging it, I began to walk through the forest, the trees blocking my way disintegrating subtly into nothing as I passed. _

_Millenniums slipped by until the bloodied trees stopped suddenly and I came to the edge of a cliff. But I didn't jump off of it, like I would if I wasn't dreaming. _

_Wings, it seems are no good in dreams. _

_Instead the scene changed until I was facing west instead. Six figures were silhouetted against the setting sun. Three were standing- one of them had another grasped in their arms protectively- and one was crouched over the sixth, which was lying limply on the earth. _

_My gaze zeroed in on the crouched figure's face._

_It was me. _

_My face was glowing, so my gaze was drawn to it rather than any other part of my body. There were no tears falling down my cheeks, but it was evident that I was in a lot of pain; my face was contorted with agony, but it wasn't physical, it was emotional. _

_My eyes were the worst; they held nothing but pure, unadulterated pain._

_And I didn't know why. _

**You can stop this. **

_My view turned to the other four figures whose mouths were moving in unison._ How? _I begged silently. _

**Stop this Maximum. **

But I don't know how! 

**You will. One day. If you let yourself. **

You're not helping, _I snarled silently to the figures- that I now realised were my flock. They said nothing, only stood, wordlessly watching as the dream-me wept. _

What the hell? _It took me several long, cry-stricken minutes to realise Fang wasn't among the flocks' silhouettes that were ticking me off. Where was he? Why wasn't he in my dream?_

_Then cold dread swept through me like a freezing, lethal wave. Slowly, I turned and looked at the motionless figure that was sprawled at incomprehensible angles that made my head spin sickeningly. The pale, dead face swam in front of my retinas._

_It was Fang. _

**Save him Maximum. He will die if you don't. **

How? What am I supposed to do? _I screamed, hysteria clouding my sense as the silhouettes faded, leaving only me, dream-me and the dead Fang. _

**He needs you Maximum. Save him or let him die. **

I woke with Fang's fingers pressed over my mouth to muffle my screams.

A/N: **It's really short, but I needed to leave it there. I do have a plan for this story, so don't worry, I should be updating within the next fortnight. **

**Review, **

_**A**_**T**


	2. Pop Tarts

**5253Racer**

**Yascarocks**

**Tamashii-x-no-x-Renkinjutsushi **

You know why you're there. 

**Second chapter- Yay, it's quite good actually, seen as I'm trying to write four different stories simultaneously- it eats away at my sleeping time, so, well, you can guess what mood I'm in…**

**By the way, to any of you who are educated in the way of American culture, what the hell is a Pop Tart?! Please tell me, it's killing me not knowing. **

Disclaimer: **I don't claim the characters, the setting or the song and bands- all very good songs might I add. **

Anonymous: **Time kills slowly. **

**Chapter Three: Max- October **

_Okay, it's a new day. We're going to New York, forget about everything that's happened last night, Max. _

But of course, the stupid creepy dream wouldn't bugger off when it was told to. I can still see it in my mind; the trees, the silhouette-flock, dead Fang…

_No, stop it Max, this isn't helping anybody. _

And I still didn't know what the hell the dream meant. I mean, come on; if it was meant to confuse me, it was doing one hell of job at it. 

To distract myself, I took the flock's iPod out of my pocket and jammed the headphones into my ears, cranking the volume up to maximum in an effort to drown out the incessant thoughts in my head. 

If it's possible to jump in fright when you're in mid-air, then let me tell you, that's exactly what I did. I fumbled desperately for the volume button as Spinal Compression by Fear Factory blared out of the speakers and deafened me at maximum volume. 

_Ow._

"Fang!" I yelled over the music, causing my flock to stare at me and my raised voice. "How bloody loud does your music have to be?" 

He didn't say anything as he glided effortlessly over to me with one flick of his primary feathers. When he was close enough, he glanced at the iPod's screen and read the song. "What?" He said with fake innocence that made me want to hit him. "Not your style?" Iggy sniggered somewhere, but I was too wound up with Fang to care. 

"_Like it?_ Of course I don't bloody like"- I stopped suddenly, as my attention was drawn back the song playing. Actually, when you got past the _grown__man screaming his__head off_, it was quite good. A small smile pulled at Fang's lips at my perplexed expression. 

"I withdraw my comment." I said sheepishly, and the smile widened. Fang leaned over and brushed my ear with his lips, setting my whole body tingling. 

"Try 30 seconds to Mars, and Metallica." 

**August- Max**

We still had at least two days worth of travel to get through, and the kids were beat. Angel curled herself around Total and was asleep almost instantly as soon as we landed outside a dry, sandy cave. A temporary home in other words. 

Lucky midget. 

Gazzy and Nudge sank to the floor with the dignified air of someone who really, really wants to just collapse, but knew it would make them look like idiots, and Iggy slumped listlessly on a nearby tree-trunk. 

We left me and Fang to do everything. Typical kids. 

I met Fang's eyes and he nodded once and wandered off to scavenge wood for a fire- I reasoned that we were pretty concealed here, so it was probably safe. If not? Too bad. I'd had my share of cold rat, and trust me; it's _not_ as nice as it sounds. 

So, while Iggy watched the younger kids snooze, I foraged through the backpacks for something edible. 

Scrounger Max, that's me. 

"Hey, guys, what do you fancy?" I called over to the younger kids and Iggy. 

"What's on offer?" Came the reply. 

"Well," I said with fake enthusiasm. "We have a _grand_ selection of Pop Tarts, fries, bananas and some Fruit Roll-ups. And cookies, but they're mine so back off." Iggy held his hands up in mock terror. "Whatever." 

Fang returned with an armful of dry wood several moments later, interrupting my eye-pummelling that I was giving Iggy. 

"Finally!" Gazzy yelled, jumping up and scampering over to me, where I had the matches waiting. "Now we can get some food!"

Ten minutes later, we had our fire, each of us dangling a stick with a Pop Tart stuck to it. The others were busy, the raucous cries of post-adolescent- or in Ig's case, actually adolescent- banter filling the air around me, so I turned to Fang to start talking to him, but my words died in my throat when I caught sight of his face. 

Pure, unconcealed hate blackened his features. And when I say that, I mean_, literally. _But the hatred wasn't channelled to any of us; he was staring intently at the food on the end of his stick, the fire's reflection in his eyes making him look even more terrifying. 

"F-Fang?" I stuttered quietly, and his head snapped upwards to lock gazes with me. No trance of the anger and loathing that had petrified me remained; only the cool, politely detatched mask that was so familiar, yet- just now- so alien to me. He continued to stare at me, waiting for me to continue, but I couldn't piece together my thoughts enough to respond. "Never…never mind." Was I eventually managed to force out. 

I turned hurriedly back to looking at the others and refused to glance back even when I could feeling Fang's gaze turning me into Swiss cheese. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, my heartbeat slowed and I was able to think more clearly. The more I did, the more I became increasingly doubtful that I had ever seen anything. 

What _was_ that I'd seen on Fang's expression? At a _pop tart? _I must have been mistaken. 

Pushing the trepidation out of my mind, I busied myself with preparing everybody's meal. 

**Fang **

Max was looking at my funnily again. 

I couldn't blame her; everybody else had eaten Pop Tarts, fries and cookies each, but I was still halfway through my first pop tart. 

I just didn't want to eat it. 

Yeah, I was hungry- hell, after flying all day, I was ravenous- but one look at the Pop Tart or any of the other food made me want hurl. 

_Besides,_ I reasoned, _it's not like I actually _need_ it. _I mean, I'd already eaten whilst I was flying, and that was enough, wasn't it? 

Was it?

_Yes_, I decide firmly; I didn't need to eat this thing- anyway, it was just sugar and fat; all the crap I didn't need to eat. 

God, now the flock was all looking at me, waiting. 

I needed to get away, fast, before the mounting pressure in my head became too much and I snapped. 

Impulsively, I stood up, brushing dirt that I could hardly see from my black jeans. I turned around and began to walk into the soothing darkness, I like darkness, it doesn't ask anything of you, and it doesn't judge. 

"Fang?" Max's voice sounded behind me, timid and yet strong at the same time. She was asking me where I was going, I knew that. I answered with the first thing that came into my head

"Wood." Was all I said, all I needed to say. 

A stopped walking the darkness when I came to clearing perhaps ten minutes later. It was then that I realised I was still holding my Pop Tart, and with it the hunger I had been suppressing all day. Without thinking, I brought it to my mouth and bit a slight corner from the edge. My stomach grumbled, knowing there for coming and letting patience crumble away in a heartbeat. 

At the noise, I looked at my stomach. 

And immediately spat the Pop tart sliver into the bushes. My stomach whined sadly as the remaining, almost intact Pop Tart followed. 

I felt sick. 

I was so _overweight. _I could see it under my shirt- the roundness of my stomach showed through quite clearly. 

There was no way I was going to eat so much crap any more. 

Things, I thought furiously, were going to change quickly. I was never going to stay like this forever- I was an embarrassment to everybody.

I stuffed as much wood as I could into my arms and ran back to Max and the others. 

Ran away from my discarded Pop tart. 

"Hey, what took you?" Max asked as I sat down next her. I shrugged. 

"Are you sure you're not hungry Fang? You've hardly eaten anything." Part of me screamed; _yes! I'm hungry, give me food! _But the dominant part remained strong; _you don't need it Fang, only eat what you need. _

"I ate the Pop Tart didn't I?" I forced a rising panic that she would see through me, but Max shrugged and turned away. I exhaled slowly. 

Things were going to change, but that didn't mean Max had to know. 

A/N: **Woo! Two chapters in two days**! **I'm sorry it's such a short chapter, but again, I have my reasons. Tell me, does anyone have any ideas about what this story is about? Please tell me, it would be interesting. **

_**A**_**T**


	3. Mackerel

To all of you out there who reviewed and told me what you thought: thanks for doing something that you didn't have to do

**To all of you out there who reviewed and told me what you thought: thanks for doing something that you didn't have to do. You know who you are. **

**A lot of you have expressed what you think is going to happen and what the story is about, most have you have come to same conclusion- but I ain't telling, so don' get too certain that you're right, 'cos you may just have it back-fire in your face… **

**Oh, and just to clear up any confusion- because even I was getting confused and I wrote it- the October parts are present day, and ****August ****chapters are the past, about how everything led up to the October bits… and also, almost all of the August parts will be Fang's P.O.V and vice versa with the October parts for Max, but they might change sometimes. **

Disclaimer: **I don't claim.**

"**Sometimes you can't see for looking." Unknown. **

**October- Max**

We landed in NY yesterday.

It's only now that I remember why we freaking left in the first place-the smell, the uncontrollable, incessant _noise. _Ugh, I hate cities.

Maybe we should just go and live in England or somewhere. But British people are weird; calling everything by creepy names and everything. But, of course, the younger kids were practically bouncing off of the walls with excitement; another drawback of being and human-avian hybrid- it took hyperactive-ness to the extreme.

"Max, can we go to the"-

"Max, I want to go in every shop and see everything"-

"Max, I'm hungry, let's go eat somewhere"-

Gah!

Jesus, I thought my head was going to explode with all the questions that were pounding me from every freaking side. What with the constant banter from the younger kids and Ig's constant moaning about how he couldn't hear a bloody _thing_ through the walls of noise, I was going crazy.

A cool, almost imperceptible weight pressed on my shoulder. I glanced sideways and saw that Fang had put his hand on my shoulder and was guiding me through the crowd, our little band of chattering monkey's following behind.

Abruptly, the noise stopped as we entered a building- my brain too muddled with sound to bother with being wary about going into a place where I didn't know the exits. As glanced around and immediately recognised what it was with relief.

A library.

I sighed with contentment as I sank into a spongy chair thing with white plastic arm-rests. Then I turned to address my flock and realised they'd disappeared.

Damn it. Panic rose in my throat as I looked around wildly, then spotted Fang and pounced on him, knocking us both into the bookcase with a light _thump_.

Ignoring the librarian's cold gaze, I turned to Fang who was staring at me- I couldn't blame him, seen as _I was sitting on his _chestI coughed, embarrassed and slide off him, allowing him to sit up.

"Where've the others gone?" The panic that had temporarily dissipated when embarrassment had set in returned with a vengeance, making my voice waver so slightly that it was probably unnoticeable.

"They're fine."

Alright, maybe Fang could tell I was worried as easily as he doesn't need to speak much.

"Angel and Total"-

"Hang on," I interrupted incredulously. "How the _hell_ did Angel get a _d_ogin here?"

Fang shrugged and I let it slide reluctantly. "They've gone to read the picture books in the hall of the right, and the other three have gone to mess about on the computers in that corner over there."

"Whoa, Fang," I said with fake surprise, my panic making me positively giddy. "That was a whole monologue you've got going there!"

Fang snorted and walked off, subtly giving me the finger behind his back, out of sight of the other people mulling around and pouring over books. I rolled my eyes and relaxed slightly, reclining in my chair and closing my eyes. Trying to at least _act_ like I wasn't crawling the walls with anxiety.

"Excuse me, miss."

I had to bite my tongue from issuing several profanities that would have got me kicked out immediately as the high, snobbish voice of the snot-nosed receptionist sounded in my ear.

I jumped slightly as I opened my eyes and saw the woman's nose several millimetres from mine.

"Yes?" I said bluntly, causing her scowl to deepen, making her look rather like demented owl. **(A/N: let me tell you, I know my fair share of REAL demented owls!). **That thought made me giggle slightly, still under the influence of my stress and panic.

"I'm sorry madam"- _Well, you could've fooled me, lady_ - "but I'm afraid that the library is no place to sleep, so you must leave if you are not going to show any interest in the books or other amusements."

I snorted, than hurried to conceal it with a cough. Owly raised her caterpillar eyebrows and waited expectantly for me to make some sort of move.

Fine. I stood up and walked away without a second glance.

Boredom shrouded me within ten minutes; all the computers were busy, books held no interest for me and now I couldn't even sit down without being pestered.

"See?" An old crone with prune-like skin was whispering loudly behind me, and annoyance was rapidly growing because of it. "All teenagers have no respect for libraries any more." I glanced behind me and saw that she was muttering to an uninterested man about several teenage yobs that were messing about- busy lobbing balled up paper at each other- near the computers.

Hang on.

"Oi," I whispered furiously, striding over to my flock, who froze in unison, paper balls clutched in their guilty fingers. "Stop it, you're attracting attention."

Nudge, Iggy and Gazzy hung their heads shamefully; "Sorry Max," Gazzy muttered.

"Good. And _you_," I rounded on Iggy, who met my gaze accurately and unflinchingly. "You should know better- _behave for god's sake." _

"Fine." He said sullenly; I scowled- well, ground my teeth together noisily, so he probably got the gist- at him until he sighed and said it properly.

I left them silent and stalked off, geared up to give someone else a verbal thrashing.

"Now that's better," the woman said approvingly. "That's discipline for you."

She smiled toothily at me and I plastered a realistic smile on my face in response, but as soon as she looked away, I left it slide off of my face faster than water, to be replaced with my best scowl.

Stupid bitch.

"God, what's that dude on, a hungry strike or somefin'?"

For the third time that day, I had to restrain myself from saying what I actually thought. And right now all I wanted to do was scream with frustration.

There were three mid-twenty-year-old guys lounging around on the stools behind me, and I could tell, even without looking around at them, that they were talking about me. The loud whispers were a dead giveaway.

Surreptitiously, I glanced downwards at my stomach. I looked fine to me, maybe a bit skinny, but not drastically so, and that was just because of my super-body that meant I ate as much as the army but never gained any of it, not to mention the whole shaky meal schedules.

Nah, I was fine.

Eventually, the weird guys left and I let the thing go.

After the bashing Iggy and co. had taken, I'd expertly positioned myself in a corner where I had a view of everyone in my flock; from here I could see Angel reading some soppy picture book about a rabbit who lost his ears or something, Nudge exploring video game sites with Iggy and Gazzy; and Fang was- whoa.

Hold the phone.

Fang was _reading_.

Unconsciously, I stood up and walked over to him, still shell-shocked about Fang and a book together.

But then again, back when we lived in Colorado we'd never been able to afford many books, but I knew that Fang had read all of the ones we did have at least four times; he did, now I thought about it, strike me as a reader-lyric-writer personage. So maybe it wasn't too weird, but he's a fourteen-year-old boy, so I automatically didn't think that he would.

But there he was, sitting comfortably and reading intently.

I changed my mind half-way across the room and returned to my seat.

I'll leave him to it.

**August- Fang **

The next day, when I went to the store for supplies, I impulsively snatched a slender black notebook from the stationary shelf and added it to my basket. With it, I could record how much crap I was eating and could reduce my intake.

I was being perfectly rational- I wasn't going to simply not eat; that would be stupid, I didn't want to die of starvation- and this way, I could lose weight and benefit from the effects of not eating so much rubbish that I didn't really like anyway.

Max had given me extremely strict instructions- and I quote; "here, there's the credit card, get whatever the hell you want."- on what to buy, so I got the latest food preferences that everyone liked; the usual crisps, energy bars and other greasy chow that they needed to get going in the mornings, and got some other stuff for me. For once in my life I was actually bothered about the ingredients; I'd never realised how much fat and sugar was included in produce.

Jesus, I can't believe that last week I ate burgers that had more than half a bag of sugar in them, happily slurped milkshakes filled with sweeteners…

So I looked on the back of packets of what I was buying for myself and made sure that they only had as much of each food group as I needed.

But I was still sickly fascinated by what was included in the stuff that I was going to buy for the others; more than half of me cried to put it all back when I read the ingredients, to just buy the proper stuff, _the actual food…_

But they wanted it and it was they're choice if they wanted to eat crap all their lives.

I paid and walked to the back of the store, made myself certain that nobody could see me, than leapt into the air, feeling less enclosed than I ever did when my feet were on the ground; when I was in the air, my troubles seemed to float away- it didn't matter that I was hunted and wanted for dead, that I would never be normal, because when I was in the air, they were irrelevant.

But, of course, I had to come down some time.

The others were lounging around in the cave when I returned, carrying the backpack and two additional carrier bags.

"Fang, what took you?" Max said when I landed and put the bags on the floor. I shrugged wordlessly and she rolled her eyes but let it drop.

"Who cares- he brought food, didn't he?" Gazzy yelled whilst pawing through the bags. He stopped suddenly. "Fang what the hell is all this?" he'd obviously been searching through the bag that I'd packed all the stuff for me in, 'cos he held up fish fillet things wrapped in plastic with a disgusted expression. "What the blazers happened to burgers?"

"Other bags." I answered, trying to sound nonchalant, but Max wasn't having any of it.

"Well, what's with the fish and all this… weird crap- the _healthy_ food, eh?"

I shrugged again, hoping she'd drop it- God, Max was great and everything, but sometimes she had a knack for being so annoying with the whole maternal- I-must-know-everything-about-everyone thing that I felt I was going to explode.

"Answer me Fang."

I sighed- it seemed like today I wasn't going to get off with nothing more that a questioning glance.

"That bag's mine." I gotta say, even _Total _looked up long enough from his cookies for me to register his disbelief. All of them at surprise on their faces. "What?" my annoyance was growing with every second. "I'll eat that if I want to."

"But," Gazzy spluttered, gobsmacked. "It's _green_."

"Okay," Max said slowly and looked up at me. "What the _hell_ is going on, Fang? You've been acting really weirdly lately- the whole feeling ill, hardly eating anything yesterday and now this- what wrong with you?"

I stood up, hardly realising what I was doing and moved towards the cave entrance. Max stepped in front of me to block my path, and it struck me just how short she was compared to me- her head barely cleared my shoulder.

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me, Fang." White-hot anger flared in my stomach at her words, so powerful it scared me, but I wasn't going to say anything.

"Move, Max." my words dripped ice and venom, so much so that even I was slightly unnerved by them. A flicker of fear sparked in Max's eyes, but it only angered me further.

"No." she hissed, her tone almost matching mine, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Iggy flinch as our words rebounded off of the walls like flying daggers. The fury that had been lapping at my heels, barely kept at bay reared over my head and consumed me, and without thinking, my hands came up and I shoved the girl in front of me so hard that she hit the wall behind her.

Blank shock met my glare in Max's direction, and because I didn't know what else to do, I turned and let the wind collect under my feathers, let them carry me away from the oppressing silence and shocked glances of my flock. **(Could have ended it there but because I'm nice I didn't.) **

Oh, god.

What the hell made me hurt Max like that?

The anger that had consumed me so quickly had departed almost instantly the moment I left the cave. Now all I was left with was guilt.

I mean, she's like my sister for Christ's sake- and you're not meant to get so angry with you family that you want to physically hurt them.

I feel so terrible. And so alone; I've never felt so alone in my life, even when the white-coats put me in an isolation tank to punish me for biting that stupid prick that had the balls to call himself a 'scientific researcher'- it wasn't as bad as this because I didn't feel so utterly alone, because I knew Max and the others were waiting for me to come back, hoping, praying that would come back okay.

And now? When there's only five people in the world that you can depend on to keep you sane- that's bad enough; when you don't even have them anymore? That's the closest to the bottom of the barrel that you can possibly get.

And the worse thing was that I didn't blame them one bit for it.


	4. Ghosts

Evil Angel of DOOM: Yes, I know they don't, but I'm not American and never have been, and trying to write in James Patterson's style is rather hard- I don't get to use loads of fancy verbs etc

**-Evil Angel of DOOM: Yes, I know they don't, but I'm not American and never have been, and trying to write in James Patterson's style is rather hard- I don't get to use loads of fancy verbs etc. and just have to suffice with the whole laid-back teenage language. So, um, yeah here's chapter four…**

**Anonymouse13 **

**MellaIsie **

**Max- October**

-Voice?

**-Maximum. **

- can you tell me what the hell these dreams are about yet?

I'd had that creepy dream again- maybe a bit more than once. Remember? The one with the figures that really pissed dream-me off and Fang… Fang lying there in the grass.

**-No.**

"Why not?" I practically screamed, and then jumped slightly as I realised that the flock was staring at me- I'd yelled out loud again. It would have been less conspicuous if I'd stuck a sign to my head saying; 'Crazy Max, yep, that's me over here people!'

Oh great, when I don't want it to poke its nose in, the Voice is all talk, but when I actually _need _it, that's a whole different story…

So, recap. We're basically doing what bird-kids do best; flying. We were circling around someplace looking for a place to crash; it was the ideal place for us; a few miles from any populated areas, good escape routes, that sort of thing…

"Oi!" Iggy yelled at me from a few metres below. "Over here!" Ready with my snappy response, I swooped down to him, but as soon as I saw what he was pointing to, I lost interest in responding and dived into the cave instead.

It was, well, _blue_. Stalactites hung from the ceiling in curtains, and stalagmites protruded from the floor like fingers. Everything glittered with blue ethereal beauty.

In short it was a damn gorgeous place.

"What d'you think?" I asked Fang who had landed next to be. He shrugged and I poked him hard until he answered.

"It's blue."

"Yeah, I know that genius," I said, glaring mockingly at him. Flicking my head smartly, I stalked off and examined the end of the cave. Perfect.

"Oi, guys," I shouted behind me as I walked further into the cave. "This place goes on foreve- guys?" Hmm. I hadn't heard from them for about five minutes. Not a squeak, which meant trouble. Cautiously, I retraced my steps until I was just behind a weird outcrop of rock that shielded me from the cave's entrance. Like the expert mutant spy I was, I peered warily around the edge of it.

All five of my flock were standing unnaturally still, not one inch of them moving. Weird. Nudge's nose was bleeding, and Iggy had a bruise rapidly flowering over his right eye. Mentally, I raised my eyebrows, perplexed.

Then creepy glitter started to appear around Fang; it solidified and formed into a shape that vaguely resembled human. Several seconds later a boring-looking human had appeared, his arms wrapped around Fang, immobilising him.

_It's only a human, Fang, _I thought desperately. _Fight him off. _But I knew it wasn't; how could they just appear out of nowhere if he was a simple human?

"Where's the other one?" Having been caught up in looking at Fang and his captor, I had failed to see others appearing, each one of my flock in its grasp. "You," The one holding Fang shook him slightly. "Call her." Fang didn't say anything, and it took everything I had to stop myself from screaming at him just to do it. His captor's expression was growing increasingly annoyed.

"_Call her!" _Silence met the man's order. With imperceptible speed, the man drew back his fist and hit him.

I didn't know which shocked me more; the swiftness of the attack, or the fact that Fang hadn't reacted before his captor hit him. Being super-humans, we have enhanced reflexes; Fang should have been able to move his head in some way before the man's fist collided with his face…

But he didn't, and he didn't utter a sound as he over balanced and hit the floor. His silence only seemed to anger the man more; he hit Fang again, this time in the stomach. Fang didn't say anything, just lay on the floor. In those few seconds before I intervened, Fang wasn't Fang, he was somebody else; he didn't fight back, like Fang would have, he didn't get back up off the cold floor of the cave, like Fang would've.

And that scared me more than the prospect that these people were successful experiments of the School.

But I didn't allow the man-creature, whatever he was- to continue; he was on the floor underneath me before he could hit Fang a third time. I sat on him, making sure my full weight kept him pinned to the floor, and punched him, letting my anger and fright at Fang's expression leave me through the rally of punches. I hardly noticed when I was pulled off of him by hand stronger than I would have expected and thrown against the wall, two pairs of hands restraining me in my blind rage.

Fang was now again held by one of the people, his original captor rising to his feet, the stem of blood from his nose stopping and the cuts I'd just made… _disappearing. _He was healing himself, right in front of me. My eyes slipped to his left wrist, which showed the edges of a black tattoo; the 'I' that represented Itex- I'd been right, these _were_ successful recombinant experiments. So now there were three experiments that had made it past infancy; two of them to be on our cases. Lovely.

"Are you Maximum?" He- it?- asked in a very human-like voice; not like those dogs that they called successful life-forms.

"No," I said, sarcasm seeping into my voice. "I'm the President of the USA." Whatever the man was, he didn't seem to appreciate dry humour and frowned, but didn't saying anything about it, only continued. "We have a message to deliver."

"Well we don't want it." I hissed menacingly. "So bugger off." He also didn't seem to acknowledge this either, because he continued as if I hadn't spoken. Man, this guy was annoying.

"You can't stop what's happening to him, Maximum." I stared at him. It had been like talking to Jeb again, except his voice wasn't in my head, it was issuing from the man's mouth. I was aware that the others were staring at me, but all I could see was blackness, Jeb's words echoing in my mind like some sort of chant.

_You can't stop what's happening Maximum. _

"You mean that's going to happen?" I cried in disbelief. "Everything in my dream's going to happen?"

"No," The man-Jeb- said. "It could, but you can prevent it going too far."

I knew before I shouted, "How?" that I wouldn't get an answer. That would be too easy. The white-coats just loved to play with us until we cracked.

But I didn't expect them to just all vanish into thin air as soon as the word left my mouth. They did however; dissolving into the strange glitter I'd seen before and eventually even that disappeared. So the new mutants could disappear at will and heal themselves too. Just great. Another thing to add to the ever-growing list of things ready to complicate and possibly endanger our lives.

And trust me; it was about a mile-long already.

We couldn't stay in the cave after that, so we leapt out of it into the growing darkness and flew upwards, hoping to catch sight of another cave before all of the light dissipated.

No such luck. We had to fly further away.

Ten minutes of flying brought the sight of another possible cave in the near distance, darkness and rain. There was a full moon, so we could see each other well enough. As we flew towards the hopefully large enough cave, I glanced over at Fang. Jeb's words still rebounded off the insides of my skull rapidly, whirling around my mind until I was dizzy with it; I couldn't stop Fang dying because I didn't know what was wrong with him; something was definitely different; Angel not being able to read his mind anymore, the weird food several weeks ago, throwing up. Even now he looked pale and sickly; there was a light sheen of sweat covering his skin, showing the effort it was obviously taking to keep him aloft. The creature must have injured him worse than I thought.

He caught me looking at him. "I'm fine." He said curtly, though I could see he wasn't, even in the pathetic light. I sighed and let it drop. I never got anything out him anymore, that was what worried me the most, was whatever was going to happen to him going to start soon? Was he going to die next week? Tomorrow? All the incessant questions made me want to scream. The waiting was what made me insane; I couldn't stand not knowing when it was going to happen.

The whistle of wind was my only warning.

I turned, banking sharply, to see Fang falling, fast, his eyes closed.

"Iggy!" I screamed as Fang continued to drop. "Help me!"

It was happening already.

**Sorry for the wait; I was finishing another story. **

**ETD**


	5. What's Happening To You?

No, No, No

**October**

_No, No, No! _

My mind screamed as I caught Fang, dropping slightly under his dead weight- granted, he wasn't al that heavy, but I wasn't _that_ strong to be able to carry him indifferently. Iggy came to help me, and together we dropped the ground, stumbling slightly at the uneven landing.

Now my flock was looking at me. I didn't have a clue what to do; there was no blood, nothing out the ordinary that suggested Fang was in danger. Because I didn't have a freaking_ clue_ what was wrong with him, I just told Iggy to check his pulse.

"Faint… but still there." He reported after he'd skimmed his fingers lightly over Fang wrist.

"Right, er, yeah." I stammered. On an impulse, I started to tap his arms and legs; maybe he'd broken one of them, and he had internal bleeding… I stopped short on his chest.

_His chest didn't feel right. _There were too many uneven edges-

"Iggy, Gazzy," I said, trying to put some authority in my voice to mask just how freaked I really was. "There's a town about a quarter of a mile from here, I need you to see if you can find any food, and perhaps some refills for the medicine box. Angel, Nudge; Go east about a hundred yards and you'll find a river- go get water."

"Will Fang"- I interrupted Nudge's scared voice with unusual, unintended harshness.

"He'll be fine- go!"

I waited till I couldn't see them again, counted to fifty and then unbuttoned Fang's shirt. Even I was half-prepared for what I'd see, it still shocked me.

With us bird-kids, our metabolism is so fine that even if we consumed our own body weight every three hours, I bet it would have taken us a _long _time to gain any of it, and due to the fact we hardly ever get food at the right time, we're all a bit of the skinny side- basically, our cheeks are more hollow than average and you can see some of our ribs.

But with Fang, you could see _every freaking one of his ribs. _There were fine indentations where his hips were too.

"Oh, Fang, what have you been _doing_?" I whispered, feeling tears prick my eyes. I felt like an anvil had settled on my chest, huge shards of ice forming in my heart as a thought hit me.

Was this it? Was this what the dreams- the weird people last month- were all about? Was Fang going to die because of _this?_

Fang was still unconscious, the others not due back for at least several minutes, so I allowed the tears to fall down my cheeks. I couldn't lose him, not now, not any time soon. How would I exist without my right hand man there to back me up? It was like somebody was slowly, but unceasingly hacking away my left wing, severing everything in its path. I was losing him, but also a part of myself.

I sat down on a nearby rock and covered my face with my hands; I didn't want the world to see me anymore, didn't want to have to face it and all of its problems. All I wanted was to be cut a little slack from everybody- we were being chased, hunted, every second of every day, the whole saving-the-world thing, and now this.

I couldn't deal with it.

I heard movement ahead of me and my head snapped up. Fang had opened his eyes again and was getting up.

Without thinking, I stood up and yelled at him.

"What the _heck_ are you playing at Fang?" I practically screamed at me, in my anger, missing the darkness that swept over his expression when he realised his shirt was unbuttoned. "Are you trying to _die_? I mean, what is this?" I gestured at him, completely missing his face _again. _

Then I was shoved into the tree behind me, Fang inches from my face. Now I noticed just how livid he really was.

"Listen to me," He snarled, and I flinched. "There is nothing wrong with me, okay Max? So stop trying to make out that there is." Tears were sliding down my cheeks again, and he must have seen them, because his anger was replaced by confusion and then horror as he looked down and realised he had me shoved against the rough bark of a birch. He let go, and I stumbled, momentarily disorientated by the lack of anything holding me. Fang backed away from me, a mixture of horror and confusion mixing up his expression.

"Max?" He whispered, and I pictured what he must've been seeing; me, usually strong and leader-like, huddled at the bottom of a tree trunk, looking scared out of my wits. And I didn't just look it; I _was_ terrified, but I wasn't completely sure whether it was because of what I was thinking, or whether it was because Fang had just flipped out over something I prayed he wouldn't. "I'm sorry, Max."

He didn't know what was going on any more than I did. Slowly, determinedly sweeping the fright off of my face as I did so, I walked over to him. "It's okay," I said quietly, sliding my arms around him- and for once, he didn't stop me. "It's all alright."

The lie was so obvious it was almost a truth.

**August **

Max was on watch when I got back, the others snoring away softly. I landed lightly, soundlessly, next to her, and she turned her head and looked at me. I couldn't hold her gaze and shifted it to my feet instead. Max didn't say anything, just tipped my head forward until I met her eyes again. She must have seen something she wanted to, because she turned away and said, "You're on second watch." As if everything was normal.

We sat in silence, every once in a while doing 360 sweeps of the immediate area, until the first rays of light crept over the horizon and I felt her shift next to me. I didn't turn around as I heard her walking away, to the flock and then stopping briefly.

"Fang?" I didn't say anything, only waited.

"Don't do that to me again, please." I note of pleading had seeped into her voice, and I knew what it had cost her to beg me for something. "I won't," I whispered, but she'd already started walking again and was to far away to hear my murmured promise.

Iggy was still pissed at me, even though a week had passed since I lashed out at Max and she has forgiven me for it. I can feel the anger radiating from him whenever I get within two metres of him. I don't say anything; he has every right to be pissed beyond belief at me- Max should be too, really. But she'd forgiven me, and I wasn't even sure if I'd forgiven myself just yet.

I was sitting by the cave entrance when Max came to sit by me, offering me a bowl of some form of food. My stomach growled but I studiously ignored it. I shook my head, almost every cell in my body screaming at me to take the food.

"I'm not hungry." Max frowned at that, and fear clenched my insides; I was just beginning to not want that manufactured food the others were eating- if Max made me eat that now, all my efforts would be wasted; I'd have to start all over again.

"Please, Fang." She said so quietly I thought I'd misunderstood her. "I'm pleading here."

My eyes narrowed and I looked at her until she sighed. "I'm worried alright? You're acting too weird and it's making me jumpy okay?"

I didn't know how to answer that; I was acting differently, but that was good, it meant I wasn't going to live my whole life being something I didn't want to be- so instead, I conjured a half-smile I knew she'd accept, and said cajolingly, "_Too_ weird?"

She grinned at my words and brightened; she'd believed me, thank God. "Fine. Eat some of your vegetarian crap then." And went to join the others. I allowed myself and internal sigh of relief.

We ended up in a library the next day.

We were up and in the air by dawn, flying towards the city we'd seen far below us the day before.

When we landed, the others immediately began pestering Max for food, even though they'd eaten just a mere two and half hours before. The flock ended up at one of those kiosk-y things, sitting on cheap plastic stools and devouring baked potatoes. I wasn't hungry, so I surreptitiously dropped mine in the bin behind me, out of sight of Max; no doubt she'd be upset and even more worried if she thought I'd turned down more food.

But, really, I didn't need it; three square meals a day were more than enough, and eating every three hours was just plain greedy- but, of course, Max being the wonderful worrier that she was, didn't see it that way; if you rejected food, there was something wrong with you, she would think. It was evident in her eyes any time Angel was sick and didn't want to eat anything, or Nudge caught food poisoning and couldn't even bear to look at anything edible. Max just liked to worry; just liked to add more and more things to her list of stressful ponderings; I couldn't understand why, but that was just who she was, so all I had to do was concentrate on not adding to it and make sure I was there when the precarious stack she had created tumbled.

We all had funny little characteristics, I thought as we sat in the library. That was just who we were- something about us distinguished us from everybody else, and even if they were abnormal or hilarious, they were still there, and you could do nothing but try and accept them- yours and the people around you, because even if you didn't, they weren't going to go away.


	6. Falling

Chapter six

A/N: **Just had thought; was it just me, or when you picture Fang, he always has dark hair? Because he's actually got blond/ tan/ brown hair hasn't he? From that complete makeover thing they had in New York… **

**August**

It was quiet, in the library. Even without my super-hearing, I would have still been able to pinpoint exactly, to the millimetre, where that mouse was that had just snuffled. Behind me, approximately a metre and a half to my left. I just knew that Iggy would be enjoying the heck out of this; he sitting, almost as statue-like as I was, listening to every scrape of a chair, every murmured conversation being conducted, forging an invisible map of his surroundings.

Either that or he was just sitting really, _really_ still for the pure hell of it.

The noise of the others was getting to me, so I rose and wandered off, ambling aimlessly through tunnels coated in bookshelves until a heading for a bookcase caught my eye.

**DIETS & BALANCED EATING PATTERNS. **

Just what I needed. For the last week or so, I'd been doing what I though was a good idea, but really I didn't have a clue; now I could see what I _should_ be doing from these. I snatched a promisingly covered one and sat down, on impulse selecting another random book from a shelf to put in front of it; Max would, no doubt freak- like she always did- if she thought _I, _a fourteen-year-old boy was reading a book on _diets._ Yeah, well, I'm not exactly high on the normal side of male teenagers; but I couldn't _quite_ pinpoint what it was about me- the wings? The fact that I wasn't completely human? That I grew up in a dog crate? Or, hey, why not all three?!

Anyway, back to reading.

**October**

Roughly twenty minutes later, the others got back. Max didn't look at me whilst she took off into the air, refusing to speak to anybody. We ended up –you guessed it- at another library; much to do with Iggy refusing to shut up about how great they were, and Nudge stating- loudly- that she was hungry, _again. _We landed, got something to eat and headed to the nearest quiet-looking building we found, which- much by coincidence (though Angel looked suspiciously satisfied) turned out to be a library. Iggy was overjoyed, and Max admitted that she'd wanted to research Itex some more anyway. So smiles all round for the Library.

Insides, I drifted off as quickly as I could without attracting Max's attention, and roamed around, waiting for something to catch my attention.

Half an hour later, Max called us all together; I rose stiffly, my head ringing slightly with all the new stuff I'd absorbed from some random book I'd plucked off the shelf when the scowling receptionist had started to look like she wanted to give me a lecture on the expectances of a library. Hey, not been to school once in fourteen – possibly more than that- years; I had to start learning stuff sometime. I just didn't think there was so much of it that I didn't know- I mean, sure, who needs to know how to ask a Spanish person where the train station is, but you do kinda need to now how to multiply- and it was all catching up with me now. Yay for me.

"So, here's the deal," Max began, lowering her voice as somebody brushed past us, oblivious- I hoped- to our whispering group. "We can lounge around NY for a couple of days, rest up, then split somewhere else, the Voice is AWOL, so we're free to do whatever we want without it butting in." like she ever took orders from it when it was there. Max is like that- she's fourteen, yet she's already grown-up really; she's stubborn as a mule (a feathery, human-looking mule)- she gives the orders and others follow them; under no circumstances is it any other way.

She got agreement in various levels of enthusiasm from everybody- a curt nod from me- and turned away, satisfied, to gather our things.

I stiffened.

Slight, almost imperceptible noises were rolling towards me; the miniscule click of a door sliding back into the frame; every second or so a tiny thud, where a foot had stepped onto the carpet, the impact absorbed by the wooden boards below…

And the small snarl that I knew so well.

Max looked up as she felt the tension radiating of every part of me; I met her eyes- hers widened slightly then she dipped her chin no more than half a centimetre down to show she understood. All of the past few hours' tension dissipated, to be replaced by a professional coolness that came with post-battle adrenaline.

"Gasman, Nudge, Igg- Iggy?" The fear that had crept into Max's voice made me look up. She was glancing around, confusion and trepidation evident on her face.

Iggy wasn't here.

Before any of us could even looked at each other, the door behind us shattered.

Pieces of wood and metal hurtled towards us- I dropped and covered my head as debris rained down, hitting my body, creating brutal bruises that I could feel already. Hands dragged me roughly to my feet. Hairy, paw-like hands…

I didn't think- there was no time for that (yeah, yeah, I know some people would be like; 'oh, thinking things through always solves the problems' well, they should be hit over the head with something large and preferably heavy.)- I lashed backwards widely, catching something furry on the second swing, hearing a sickening crunch and a yelp, the restraining hands releasing my instantly.

I didn't spare the Eraser a second glance, only stepped over the groaning figure, blood pouring from its nose, and stepped away, catching a second and third with ferocious kicks, sending them sprawling. I glanced around swiftly, digesting the scene.

Max was battling two at once, until a third joined them and she disappeared under flailing wolf-paws, yelling profanities at the top of her lungs; Angel was standing in the centre of the room, making the Erasers that were charging at her turn in mid-run and smash into the walls. Nudge and Gazzy were fighting to my right, their backs pressed together as they blocked blows from four of the wolves.

Iggy still wasn't here.

My mind refused to accept the inevitable- that the Erasers had got him- but before I could do anything else, something heavy hit the small of my back, and I collapsed, instinctively covering my face as I did so.

The Eraser simply sat on my chest, knocking the breath out of me, then crashed his fist into my nose; I felt- however meagre- a small spark of satisfaction as I saw him wince, heard the crack as his knuckles fractured.

I still couldn't breath; black dots were appearing at the edges of my vision, the flurry of flailing fists and legs surrounding me fading into a sluggish background blur; I was acutely aware of every second that slipped by, of every moment my lungs started to burn with lack of oxygen, of the cool, expectant face of the Eraser sitting on me, slowly, exaggeratingly killing me.

My arms felt like lead, I couldn't move them or any other part of my body- my eyelids refused to remain open, and I couldn't summon the energy to fight against them, so in several seconds I was lying in darkness, the crushing weight of the Erasers pressing unrelentingly on my chest.

How long before I gave up and shut down? It was the only thing I could do; create that question. My concentration was already breaking up into a thousand pieces, making it hard for me to think clearly.

Then the weight disappeared, and I was coughing violently, trying to breathe faster than physically possible. Feeling reappeared in my limbs; enough to lift my head and see the Erasers standing over me- his expression detached- but not enough to stop his black army boot swinging forward, catching me in the face and knocking me unconscious, unable to resist the welcoming blackness waiting for me.

I coughed vehemently, tasting blood, and opened my eyes wearily, confused.

My disorientation vanished and I sat up quickly, biting back a hiss of pain as a noticeable aching lanced up my back. I flexed my fingers, already sure of what I would find.

I was right- the rope used to bind my wrist tightly together was coarse and chafed against the thin skin; it was expertly tied and impossible to move my hands apart farther than an inch. I shifted and groaned. Some form of thin metal- steel, perhaps- bound my wings together so tightly they ached, making me long to stretch them out and throw myself off something, letting the wind catch them like sails. But I couldn't.

A slight, barely perceptible movement caused me to glance sideways. My dark eyes met Max's light ones, and I saw that she was bound like me; wings, feet and wrists, some form of white-cloth preventing her from talking. I snorted; these Erasers had obviously met Max and her sense of humour before. Her expression was carefully guarded, but I knew her too well; I could see the fear lingering behind the wall she had put up. I smoothed my expression, making sure Max couldn't see that I felt exactly the same way. She looked at me, and I gave her the half-smile I knew she loved, but I couldn't make it reach my eyes; the fact that the rest of the flock were being held in the iron grip of hate-crazed overgrown dogs several metres away was too much of an axe hanging over my head.

We were surrounded by a dozen Erasers, all wielding impassive black army guns- great; what could be better than a bunch of sadistic _idiots_ chasing us every second of every day? A bunch of sadistic idiots with gunschasing us instead.

Just what I always wanted.

A black, undecorated van was parked in a gap between the furry gun wielders, its back door open, giving us a spectacular view of an empty van interior. I paid it no attention, my eyes flicking rapidly between all the Erasers in my view, their weirdly empty eyes and the black holes of the barrels of the guns aimed at us.

"Max."

Max stiffened next to me, and I could feel the hatred rolling off her. I turned and glared at the man walking slowly towards us, flanked by two black-coated people. Jeb knelt down next to me, and I felt Max leaned away from him, her features carved from the coldest ice.

"Hello sweetheart." He said softly, and I tensed.

"I'm not your sweet _anything_," She spat at him. "Now back off before I put your head so far through a wall you won't remember what colour the sky is." Jeb seemed to understand and- wisely, I thought- stood and resumed his position between our old chums ter Borcht and Anne Walker.

"You see?" Ter Borcht sniffed haughtily and turned away. "Zey use such childish insults! Failures!"

"How's the head?" Max asked innocently, and he flushed purple. "Has your ego recovered since you were knocked out by a six year old?" I smiled fleetingly as I recalled the startled expression on Borcht's face when he'd been hit over the head by Angel what seemed like months ago. Ter Borcht seemed completely recovered though, and the weird orange/ red colour he'd gone was enough to put me off the colours for life; we examined him curiously, waiting for him to explode in a big blob of puce-coloured mush all over the grass we were sitting on. I winced at the repulsive image.

"You are a huge disappointment," Ter Borcht continued. "You are intelligent"-

"Oh yeah? Ever seen me try to figure out how to finish a puzzle?" Max interrupted.

"Zat is not hard- as I was saying- ."

"Yeah? You try it- not that easy."

Ter Borcht yelled- now slightly more of a congealed cream complexion- "Enough! Terminate zem, Batchelder. You have your orders."

If we'd had dog-ears, they would have pricked up just then. But we didn't, so we had to suffice with looking really, really interested. And confused.

Jeb coughed, obviously uncomfortable. "I don't think that would be wise"- His voice faltered under the icy glare- which, to me, didn't look threatening in the least, I'm just tough that way, I guess- ter Borcht was sending his way.

"Zen I vill do it myself." Ter Borcht turned away, missing the now white face of Jeb Batchelder, and clicked his fingers at the Erasers holding the flock.

They shoved them towards the van, seeming utterly oblivious to their struggles. The flock were thrown into the van, but the doors remained open, their frightened faces looking at me and Max, both of us itching to move but knew we couldn't. Not if we wanted to walk away with our bodies intact anyway.

_Please let them put us in the van. _I prayed silently. As long as we were with the flock, and we knew they were okay, we could get out. If we were taken somewhere else… _Please. In the van. _

I was hoisted onto my feet roughly, a gun pressing coldly into the small of my back, where the rope-metal tying my wings was.

"You two are failures," ter Borcht sneered. "You are not needed." He gestured towards the Erasers, and hands dragged me backwards- it was all I could do not to fall flat on my face in the dirt.

That's when I noticed where we were.

On the edge of some sort of ravine or canyon. I couldn't see the bottom, but I could hear quite easily a river somewhere. My head snapped sideways and I locked gazes with Max again.

She knew. Her eyes were wide.

"Max!" I heard Angel's scream as me feet came to rest on the very edge of the rock face. I didn't dare look behind me into the deep expanse of nothingness. Angel's face filled my vision, white and terrified, so vulnerable in fear.

It remained emblazoned on my retinas as an Eraser slammed into me- barely regaining his balance- as I over-balanced, my foot slipping and suddenly I was surrounded by whistling air, nothing else. The sound of the river growing louder with every second that I plummeted through nothing.


End file.
